December 15, 2012

Giving & Getting in the Kingdom

Issue No. 263 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a highly acclaimed book on the four kinds of givers: Gifted, Thoughtful, Casual and Reluctant. Plus, this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.

Mueller vs. Moody

Sometimes, for variety, I read a book like I drive carnival bumper cars—a few zigzags, a side trip down this or that alley, and often several unexpected whams. There’s no literary rule that all chapters must be read in order.

So when I began reading Giving & Getting in the Kingdom: A Field Guide, I immediately check-marked four diverse chapters. If they were helpful, I reasoned, then I’d do the requisite laps around the entire book.

I started with Chapter 3’s discussion on George Mueller’s fundraising methodology (he had none!). You probably know that this 19th century pastor and orphanage guru “steadfastly refused to speak of needs, relying rather on earnest prayer among friends and supporters.” He never made “the ask,” but God provided miraculously time after time. It sounds sweet—yet in my experience, cheerleaders for this approach are often lazy or misinformed fundraisers; or stingy donors.

So I appreciated Dillon’s commentary. “It must be said, however, that Mueller’s approach avoids challenging God’s people toward their responsibility to allocate their resources, time, talent and treasure to the work of God in this world.” He contrasts Mueller with D. L. Moody, the minister/fundraiser/entrepreneur. And there’s the balance. And balance is the thoughtful theme that runs through this field guide.

Bumping over to Chapter 14, “The Unique Challenge of Fundraising in the Church,” Dillon explains why it’s so difficult. He urges churches to avoid the dreaded “Stewardship Sunday” annual one-pitch effort and, instead, preach the whole counsel of God year-round. “Periodic preaching on matters of stewardship where there is a particular financial need feeds the notion that money and giving is either a peripheral issue or an uncomfortable topic to be addressed only when absolutely necessary!”

He adds, “Teaching Christ-honoring stewardship should not be ‘gotcha’ moments in the life of the church, but central concerns of life in the kingdom that are addressed through the full preaching ministry of the church.”

There’s more good stuff. I’m always on the hunt for precise labeling of strategic issues—and Dillon hit pay dirt with his four types of givers in Chapter 4, “The Mind of the Giver.” (Whether you are a giver or a getter, this chapter is worth chewing on.)

THE GIFTED GIVER (2-5% of givers) will show up at the dedication of a new building and ask, “What’s next?” Dillon says “the gifted giver seldom needs to be asked.”

THE THOUGHTFUL GIVER (15-25% of givers) tends to calibrate giving to current income “and rarely involves lowering their net worth to fund what they care about.” And, “They have joy in giving, to be sure, but often lack unbridled delight in investing resources for kingdom purposes.”

THE CASUAL GIVER (35-50% of givers) “possesses a vague understanding of their obligation to be faithful and generous stewards of their resources, but rarely seek out opportunities to give. They usually give in response to a specific request.”

THE RELUCTANT GIVER (perhaps 33% of givers) may be “an overly generous description, because many in this category give very little of their resources for any charitable purpose.” Easy to offend, they’ve had few, if any generosity mentors in their lives. Their parents were unlikely to be kingdom stewards either.

Dillon suggests specific and biblical ways to engage these four types of donors. In the section, “Big Ideas Attract Big Gifts,” he urges CEOs, pastors and fundraisers to engage givers at the front end of a project. “Big ideas are mission-centered.” He quotes one gifted giver, “Please don’t come to me with an ‘order list’ already thought out, where my only decision is how much to give!”

“When the organization has done all the thinking and only wants capital from the giver, they have forfeited not only wise counsel but also a deeper relationship and, most probably the big gift as well.”

Dillon, vice president for advancement at Wheaton College, writes from in-the-trenches with plenty of stories, examples and God-honoring insights. I often urge CEOs and their development team members to invest in at least one development conference a year and read at least one development book per quarter. Start with this one in January—you’ll be encouraged.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:1) In the past, what is the biggest “mission-centered” idea we have presented to a current or potential giver? What’s the biggest idea we are currently sharing with donors? Is it big enough?2) Some people appreciate the George Mueller approach to fundraising—just pray, don’t ask. (Although some in that camp are very good at hinting.) Yet those same Mueller zealots rarely carry that view into other departments like recruitment, marketing, facilities or food service. Those departments need disciplined hard work to recruit students, purchase food and fix the plumbing. Why do we depend upon prayer for funds, but work like crazy in other areas?

Team-blessed Annual S.M.A.R.T. Goals - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or NonprofitOne of the big ideas in Chapter 1 (The Results Bucket) in my book, Mastering the Management Buckets, is to move from being activity-driven to results-driven.

The core competency: “We measure what we value, so we celebrate both the writing and the achieving of team-blessed standards of performance for every staff member, board member and volunteer. We also abandon dead horses and sacred cows."

Peter Drucker said that if you have more than five goals, you have none. So as you plan for next year, what process do you have in place to ensure that every staff member, board member and volunteer has three to five team-blessed annual S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-related)?

For more help, download the “The Results Bucket” chapter from my website and check out other resources and worksheets for your weekly staff meeting.